Not that all our letter writers use a howitzer when a pea-shooter will suffice, but some of them do — enough, apparently, to inspire one of our readers to send that email.

It was not a Letter to the Editor; it was a quiet plea for civility.

The gist of his email was that too many letter writers go for the throat, resorting to insults and name-calling instead of expressing their viewpoints in a calm and reasonable manner.

He was complaining, mainly, about our conservative letter writers, but the truth is, neither side of the aisle has cornered the market on polite discourse — or the lack thereof.

I told him just that, and he agreed, up to a point, saying that while both groups sometimes veered off the course of civility, conservatives were the worst offenders.

We disagreed without being disagreeable.

Nobody expects our readers to turn into Miss Manners — prim, proper and boring — but the Letters to the Editor column is not a back alley, and the same rules that govern one-on-one conversations should govern the dialogues conducted in the newspaper.

Those rules are not hard and fast, because dialogues are, by their very nature, dynamic and unstructured, but the best letter writers, like the best conversationalists, are the ones who make their points in a calm and reasonable manner.

It is not enough to criticize a viewpoint; pundits must skewer the officials who hold those positions, sometimes ruthlessly — and even to the detriment of their own arguments.

On TV, as on playgrounds, name-calling often is the last resort of a witless soul, someone who lacks the grace and thoughtfulness to support his or her stance without flinging barbs of hostility.

But, then, TV always seems to amplify certain personalities, especially those already disposed to behaving with only slightly more elegance than a carnival barker — Donald Trump on one side of the aisle, for example, and Ed Schultz on the other.

Back to that gentleman who sent the email the other day: He was correct in saying that what one says is no more important than how he says it.

Tone can enhance an argument — or implode it — and we see verbal implosions all the time in this society.

Having said that, however, I think most of our letter writers — not all, but most — remain within the bounds of civility, despite their fierce passion.

Some readers may disagree with that statement — or any statement expressed in our Letters to the Editor packages — and if so, they are free to weigh in with their own viewpoints.